Found along the Trail

A different walk than the barn one, but similar views.  Not only my smile upon seeing it (albeit artificial element (not my smile) in natural setting), but also my smile on not seeing the object on the way back -- only two men walking by singularly ...one in his 70+s and one in his 30s..passed it. Kind of glad they were motivated to pick it up. 

 

Henna on my Hand

 

Going through some old photos. Saw this one from a trip to Morocco. Marrakesh here, my hand having henna applied. The closest to a tattoo for me. :) 

Barn Contents

Barn by the trail by the water...looked a bit beat up, but they had taken care to close it up. Except for the space between the padlocked door where a hand could fit with a phone....and image what was in that dark barn. All neat and tidy. 

Beautiful walk as well...on marsh connected to bay, hills in the distance all in view in clear sky.

Building a city -- part of it -- ceramics

In process of using a photograph I took for inspiration of a scene on a street in Mysore.  I had been there long ago, on my way to a wedding of a friend. More when I complete the project.  

Clay, hand built. 

 

Skink! Quite a blue tail

 

I planned on moving a piece of marble outside, but this skink allowed me to leave it alone. The skink had been under the marble slab as I picked it up, and "he" wasn't moving. He then moved to under the edge of the marble that I had resting on the ground. Didn't want to hurt it, so held it for a bit more until skink went away a bit, but by that time, rethought the heavy lift, and decided to wait for a friend. :) 

Production Pottery -- kind of! :)

Made these last week .. fast! For fundraising event. Nice group of people surrounding, fun times. 

 

From a documentary - ceramics and plexiglass

 

I won't put the full interpretation here, in part because I don't want to oversimply the documentary I recently saw. Natural resources, relationships on several levels. Was an assignment about relationships....not necessarily the human kind. The clip is intentional, as the story can change with a different environment in the background. 

Building a Plexiglass Box

Very nice man at the plastic store taught me how to stick plexiglass together, and gave me his demonstration to me to use as a right angle. Weld-on used to melt the plastic so it sticks together. Using this as part of a sculpture, so waiting to see if I will add the final piece to make it a six sided box, or leave it as is. The Weld-on is a "drippy" liquid, so will take some practice to get no smudges, but, so far, not too bad. The picture above is sitting on a drop cloth, that isn't a smudge line at bottom! And it is the clouds and blue sky above in reflection. :) 

  

    

Silk Scarf Dresses -- V and deep necks

 

Three more dresses made from silk scarves.  This set was focused on plunge necks, though only the one below is super deep. May tack it, depending on what wearer may want. The one below is more avant garde -- sleeves super long, lots of flow in part of size of scarf and perhaps weight differences. 

Landslide

Might be hard to get the scale here. That is a small building there.

 

The perfect beach chair, Stair metaphor

Above was my beach chair for lunch. Millions and millions around, but not on this island.  Below stairs had me thinking a metaphor with stairs -- how if your stairway stops/pauses for some reason, you begin building, creating your own steps.  Think I had it more poetic in my mind than writing now.  Maybe it will come to me again (Laughing. Likely better to wait to write this, but I still like how seeing the stairway like that evoked thought in me). 

Last photo --- liked the paint peeling.

 

Seaweed Print, Marine Research Center explore, Blue Angels

Had a long and fun day.  First a walk to a once a month outdoor market, then to a once a year open house at a Marine Research place that is normally closed to the public. Beautiful views, right on the bay. Learned things too. They had lots of interactive activities, quite engaging for kids and adults. Above is a seaweed print I made using their (an artist/author/photographer/designer was the key person) set up and seaweed. Picked the pieces because the lower one reminded me of a salamander, and the upper one like polliwog. 

Fleet week brought air show, and the Blue Angels gave a particularly fantastic performance. So close to each other, so fast. And they kindly flew over us several times.  

Appreciated the amount of dirt by the pocket on the lab coats. Honest dirt is a good thing. 

 

Devil's Coach Horse Beetle

Saw this long beetle on my walk this morning. First "he" was walking fast, with body "long" and flat. Then, he curled up and stood still.  Looked different than "normal" beetles I have seen. Looked it up with image search. Appears to be a Devil's Coach Horse Beetle. What a name! Apparently scorpion like for addressing its food sources. 

 

At the vineyard

Went to vineyard with friend who has an interest in this one -- ripe grapes, though the wine business in region at low point, so no harvesting this year. Another industry that must adapt to a changes in culture, and change marketing and offers to tempt. 

 

Ceramic Sculpture, Inspired by a childhood photograph.

Can be removed easily from stand -- need to make sure has full freedom. The top part does rotate.

Pug clay, no glaze.  Inspired by a photograph of my parents and me when I was a kid...the life given with two cultures blended, freedom to explore thought and the world. 

Prototype below:

 

Scary Eggplant -- did it all by itself

 

Eggplant felt like getting into the Halloween spirit. Grilled, but other than that, made the shape and features all by itself. 

Weekend Views - "Pumpkins," Peacocks, Ribbons

Walked around a reservoir this afternoon -- looked like the water pump thing had pumpkins decorating a path to its "door." Peacocks earlier in the day -- recycling tour at local facility.

Yesterday, happened upon an event set up at local art gallery/studio space. Plastic ribbons aligned quite cleverly from the building to posts along the ground. The wind blowing them with a unique sound as well. 

 

Ceramic Sculpture..entity open to exploring the world

 

      I changed it some from this, but know it is still "test tile" for engineering. The top part can move             around....not automatically, but by hand. Hmmm, maybe I can add an engine. Talk about                         engineering improvements.

Ceramics -- assignment, elements

 Not quite a perfect background removal -- maybe it is more distracting as is! Assignment, so, not my true move for expression.  I then interpreted the assignment again, to the one below, where it is a simple form, and I can remove/add the extra elements as I choose. 

The components of the incorporated elements:

Color coordination

Toes match the suitcase tag - wonder what my favorite color may be. 

 

Ride Day 2024 - Napa

Ride day 2024. My friend was being his usual grouchy (but kind) self, so someone I know adorned his car windows with a hand covered in a glove covered in peanut butter. Since the person with a peanut butter palm was a volunteer, there were few repercussions....mainly some laughs, and a some lectures on how hard it is to remove peanut butter from surfaces. 

 

Look at all the 11s

I was enjoying seeing the sunset while waiting at the airport. 

When I looked at the image later I saw all the 11s. :)

 

Fungi on tree

May not be nice for the tree, but kind of nice hangout for Fungi. 

 

Paper wasp nests, native rose, twin berry, scratched tree - Pt. Reyes

Above: Native Rose . Below: Twin Berry. Pt. Reyes walk. 

Above: Paper Wasp nest...likely fallen and abandoned. Below Paper Wasp a cell section at top of nest

Below -- lots of spring like curls on this. It looked a bit metallic in the light. 

Below: Scratched tree...mountain lions, bobcats.

Below: Some sort of non-insect invasion on the leaves.